FORMER WINCHELSEA RAILWAY STATION

2 - 18 RAILWAY TERRACE WINCHELSEA, SURF COAST SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • History

    FORMER WINCHELSEA RAILWAY STATION - History

    Winchelsea railway station (Surf Coast HO155) was opened on 25 November 1876 (Victorian Places 2015; Wong 2018). The Winchelsea railway station building was built in 1877, and is constructed of polychrome brickwork in the mid-Victorian boom style. The stationmaster's office and residence building was extended with timber additions after its original completion. The station comprised a passenger platform, van goods shed and cart dock, and a lamp room and toilet block. The platform was located on the southern side of the railway line, situated opposite a four-road yard and goods platform with a weatherboard goods shed. By 1980 the yard had been rationalised to three roads, the goods platform had been shortened, part of the loading platform removed, and the original ticket clerk's office had been reused as a bedroom. The wooden extension to the stationmaster's building was demolished in the 1990s. The goods shed was relocated to the Waurn Ponds campus of Deakin University at an unknown date, as part of a heritage buildings display which was closed in 2002, and the goods shed subsequently ended up at the Victorian Goldfields Railway (Ward and Donnelly 1982, pp. 90-92; Wong 2018). The original railway station building and passenger platform are extant.

    Archaeological Significance

    FORMER WINCHELSEA RAILWAY STATION - Archaeological Significance

    The railway station opened on 25 November 1876, located between the Barwon Park and Cressy Roads railway crossings. The site comprises an operational passenger platform and railway station building to the south of the railway track. The goods area and associated structures have been dismantled slowly since at least 1980, and the goods area is now no longer in use. The railway station and passenger platform are still in use today. The key areas of archaeological potential identified include van goods shed and card dock, lamp room/toilet block, removed sections of the station building, toilet, lamp room, concreted area, goods shed/brick scatter and goods platform. Winchelsea railway station is of archaeological significance as the potential remains at this site could provide information about the layout and use of the goods area, and its importance within the railway station complex. This site is likely to contain historical archaeological features, deposits and artefacts.

    Historical Significance

    FORMER WINCHELSEA RAILWAY STATION - Historical Significance

    The station is of historical significance as this site is associated with the infrastructure development of railway construction as part of the Geelong to Colac 'black' line in the early 1870s. It is of social significance as it is recognised and valued by the Winchelsea community. The Winchelsea railway station site is assessed as having archaeological value in a local context under the 'linking Victorians by rail' and 'building Victoria's industries and workforce' framework in Victoria's Framework of Historical Themes.

    Interpretation of Site

    FORMER WINCHELSEA RAILWAY STATION - Interpretation of Site

    The Winchelsea railway station site meets the definition of archaeological site under the Heritage Act  as a site that is likely to contain artefacts or deposits 75 or moreyears old, that would provide information relating to the formerstructures in both the goods platform and the passenger platform areas,and requires archaeological methods to reveal information about theoriginal layout of the site. Within the goods area, the remains comprisethe potential footings of the former goods shed near a small brickscatter, and a concreted area on top of the former goods platform.Within the passenger platform area, the remains comprise former stationbuildings. These areas do not appear to be highly disturbed, given the in situ concrete slabs, and are likely to contain archaeological featuresrelating to the former structures noted in documentary evidence. This islikely to contribute to a further understanding of the site beyond thatdocumented in the Victorian railway stations architectural survey byWard and Donnelly (1982). As such, this suggests that the Winchelsearailway station site meets Threshold A (archaeology).

    The railway station opened on 25 November 1876, located between the Barwon Park and Cressy Roads railway crossings. The site comprises an operational passenger platform and railway station building to the south of the railway track. The goods area and associated structures have been dismantled slowly since at least 1980, and the goods area is now no longer in use. The railway station and passenger platform are still in use today.

    The key areas of archaeological potential identified as being part of the VHI site are as follows (see Site Plan):

    • . Van goods shed and card dock
    • . Lamp room/toilet block
    • . Removed sections of the station building
    • . Toilet
    • . Lamp room
    • . Concreted area
    • . Goods shed/brick scatter

    Heritage Inventory Description

    FORMER WINCHELSEA RAILWAY STATION - Heritage Inventory Description

    The proposed Heritage Inventory listing is related to archaeological evidence related to the HO listed Winchelsea railway station, which is located both within and outside the current HO heritage boundary. Within the heritage boundary, the site comprises the following items of heritage significance:

    
    . Winchelsea railway station building, which is a Creswick-style single storey station building with an elongated hipped roof, projecting minor hipped roof at the rear, polychrome brick wall construction, slate roof cladding, polychrome brick chimneys, and a broadly projecting galvanised corrugated steel verandah roof cladding supported by fluted cast iron columns with decorative capitals and curved brackets

    
    . The station platform adjacent to the station building, including the bluestone retaining wall. Winchelsea Railway Station (Surf Coast HO155) is located within the railway reserve at the western end of Railway Avenue, Winchelsea. The heritage boundary covers approximately 0.73 hectares of land on both sides of the railway track, and encompasses the railway station building, the passenger platform, and the former goods platform.

    No additional historical artefacts were identified, due to the extremely low ground surface visibility (at less than 5 per cent visibility) across the site. The thick vegetation also precluded any chance to identify any exposed artefacts relating to the goods shed and goods platform, or other former rail buildings such as the former lamp room and toilet block.

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